When your most anticipated game is delayed, it can be a painful pill to swallow. Admittedly, I’ve had my fair share of these instances in the past. An example of this came in 2013, when Sony made the bold decision to delay a game I had been looking forward to playing since its announcement back in 2011: Naughty Dog's survival horror The Last of Us.
Granted, this masterpiece exceeded my expectations ten-fold, not only becoming my favourite game of that year (and to date) but it piqued my curiosity about what the game would have been like if that delay never even happened. Looking back, perhaps this delay was intended to add a little buff and shine to an already stellar experience, or maybe Naughty Dog needed to completely deconstruct a particular scene – we won’t ever know for certain. The Last of Us is just one example of this, but it is not the first and, unfortunately, won’t be the last to follow this trait either.
These delays are pesky. They can been seen as unnecessary to some, resulting in insults and slander across all reaches of social media directly aimed at developers. While this kind of approach is never the way forward, the frustration involved can be understandable. But is it justifiable when a rushed product may never meet expectations in the first place?
Not every game that's ever been delayed ends up good, of course, but at least it allows for more time. Time to potentially improve, to add that extra map the developer's been plotting for months, or to re-work those pesky textures that have been bugging an artist for ages but haven't yet been fixed.
But most importantly why are these game delays necessary? Because, to me, they show that developers care about their art. Money will, unfortunately, forever be at the forefront of these decisions. That, and pressure from higher echelons of course. But I do see it as a positive when a developer takes the risky decision to keep its game in the oven just a little bit longer – even if the news disappoints.
Are games announced too early? Certainly this plays a part in delays. But games are getting longer, larger, and more complicated than ever before – there are always going to be last-minute issues to overcome. At the end of the day, delays – no matter how disappointing – are a necessary evil. Patience is the key here, and it's worth keeping in mind the next time your favourite game is pushed back that the extra development time is being used with your best interests in mind.
Do you agree with Gabriella that delays are simply a consequence of complicated software development, and should be accepted by fans demanding a quality product? Are games simply announced too early these days? Have a little patience like Take That in the comments section below.
Comments 38
@get2sammyb That quote works with Nintendo because they actually care about their games. Sadly the same cannot be said about some other companies. With some, delayed games are sometimes still forever bad. So I think that saying should be edited to say "A delayed game COULD eventually be good...." for many developers.
@SilentS I genuinely believe virtually every developer cares about the games they're making, but sometimes the money's just not there.
I mean, take a game like Assassin's Creed Unity which probably should have been delayed, right? But do the maths: let's be conservative and say they had 250 people working on that (it would have been more). Now let's say they delay it three months, and the average salary for each employee is $1,500 per month.
Delays are very expensive.
@get2sammyb I think he's saying that Nintendo cares about making truly great experiences, whereas a lot of companies just do it to make as much money as possible.
Of course, it's easy for an outside observer to think that way, but we can't really know how much Nintendo cares about truly making a great work of art vs making a great product so that they can make as much money as possible. I would guess there's an element of both in there, whereas companies like EA seem to care only about the money and not about making a game great for the sake of making it great, if that makes sense. Of course, I can't speak for every employee working for EA or Nintendo. I'm just talking about the companies as a whole.
@get2sammyb Then you have EA who uh yea... they “care”...
A lesser known quote from miyamoto:
"I don't always force motion controls into games, but when I do, I make sure it's incredibly divisive amongst the fanbase"
@get2sammyb I want to believe that. But the actions of some lately have proven otherwise. They would put the interests of money before all else and care less about what they are doing. While there may be staff who do care, some have come forward and have stated otherwise about projects they have done in the past due to lousy working conditions, schedules, and/or horrible bosses/leadership.
Then there are those who just push out content as fast as they can because they know somebody will buy it. Once out, they ignore what they did do and just move on to the next thing on the agenda for them.
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There are many examples out there. Be it the developers themselves or the (parent) companies they work for, the lack of care is there. And no amount of delays could ever help some of them.
(Sorry for the rant, I suck at explaining things at times)
Delays are great because a logical gamer knows what they mean so I agree 100% with the article. GTA 5 was rushed, driveclub was rushed, black ops II was rushed titles, heck in minecraft was rushed.
Games I listed had major bugs at launch, game crash worth bugs. I would have gladly waited a few months for polished games at launch.
I'll get angry about delays when I'm like 60 and expecting to die sooner rather than later, for now I can be patient.
@sonicmeerkat Why would you expect to die at 60? That's a little young for that, lol.
@get2sammyb
I agree, i also don't mind with delays, it's always better to wait for the best experience. Some games don't deliver because all the hype, but we also have great examples that was great in the end like The Last Guardian, Uncharted 4, GTA V, The Witcher 3 and the list goes on.
Games like Battlefield 4, Driveclub and Unity would benefit of a delay, but they were released with many bugs on the release date.
At this point in this console generation, I don’t care a bit about delays. My backlog is so enormous that I actual hope for delays. It’s not like I’m sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting for Spider-Man with nothing to do in the meantime.
It’s a fine line between making game announcements to stir excitement at these press events which helps to sell consoles and create buzz and raise company stock, and announcing something too early that the inevitable delays grate on the players. I don’t mind early announcements, like I said before, because I have plenty to play in the meantime, but more than a couple delays and the title will fade in my mind and the excitement dims. I see the picture of The Last Guardian there which is one of those situations.
The Witcher 3 was delayed as I recall. And that's the best game ever made. So good point, well made!
I definitely agree here, great article. Though delays can sometimes show that a game's been in development hell, I'd rather wait for the finished product than get something that's been rushed out.
Good things come to those that are patient .
I agree but there are two types of delay, more required development time to get it right and projects with core issues behind them. It is hard to know, often, what is going on behind the scenes and a delay could be like UC4 (clearly worth it) or a No Man's Sky - delayed but still not right. I would always prefer a wait but I also think delays will inevitably cause concern and discussion around fans.
I agree, delaying Sonic Forces indefinitely would have been better than releasing it at all.
I don't mind delays. The games come when they will. Is it dissapointing? Yes, but they don't owe us anything.
Announcing games too early is another matter. I remember Jason Schreier saying in an interview that there is too much secrecy in video gaming. Is it really so bad to say: 'Hey we're working on a new Tomb Raider game, it's still in early development, there's nothing more to announce at this time.'
Instead you have it leaked on a subway.
Delaying a preordered game is a different matter. Game should be all, but done, at that point. Most places offer a refund (1month+ on PS store), but some retail stores like GAME don't.
I preordered South Park TFBW the day it became available & it got delayed FOUR times- that's unacceptable.
Personally when I think of a delayed game I think of Kingdom Hearts 3. It may not have been 'delayed', but we're nearing 12 years since KH2.
People have genuinely died waiting for this game & that's depressing.
I do hope I get to play it one day or I'll come back as a vengeful ghost and haunt Nomora for the rest of his days ^^ .
The reason behind delays is valid but then I have issue with the publishers setting unrealistic deadlines or setting unrealistic release windows. If they kept 'delays' in the studio, then we would not know and therefore not get 'disappointed' by delays.
We all know that the delay is beneficial but that still doesn't make these any less disappointing. I think ALL games should be announced within their final year to stop them feeling like the development is dragging on and on. Also release dates should be announced when they are 99% certain that date will be met. Unforeseen circumstances may still happen but the majority of games would release on time and we wouldn't know if the majority had been 'delayed' because we weren't even aware of them being in development.
Its the games that we have known about for years, looking forward to for what seems like forever, only to be delayed and then delayed again that disappoint the most - even if when we finally get our hands on the game, those delays can be forgotten.
After early 2017, I welcome delay for ps4 games, my backlog is too big already
i would rather every game gets a delay than release as a buggy unplayable mess
either that or publishers NOT give us a release date until the game is at least 80% done
Delays will happen. But there is a lack of honesty from developers. Often games are scheduled to come out then a few weeks before they are like oh yeah were are going to delay it for 3 months now. They will have known for a long time that the project is running behind yet they spring the news on us last minute. I have cancelled so many pre-orders because of this.
@wiiware ditto 😕
@get2sammyb No Man's Sky would beg to differ!
After the travesty that was the start of this generation and all of it's broken games, I think people are a lot more understanding of delays. Not to mention, without delays we have to suffer constant patches that are massive in size, and you have to re download them if you remove the game from your HDD.
People want to know whats coming in the future. Yet they cant handle delays when they happen! But it hits us all, I was more then upset at Drive Club's delays I had pre-ordered it before launch of PS4 I really wanted that game and not just the free copy.
Today I am more accepting maybe its my back log of games that helps. Maybe it's just lessons learned. Either way keep the early trailers coming I love things to get excited about!!!
Making money is the #1 goal for the big 3 without a doubt. It's crazy to think otherwise. You can want/try to make a great game at the same time but cash is king.
Delays would be much less of an issue if they didn't announce games so long before they're ready. Preferably they should be announced no more than 12 months before they feel it will be ready for release... 18 months at the absolute most.
Look at Spintires: MudRunner - announced mid-August, released end of October. Okay, it's not a massive AAA game, but if a relatively small indy dev can do that in a couple of months, the bigger AAA companies should be able to do similar in a 12/18 month timeframe.
@MadAussieBloke Not everyone thinks that was a bad game.
Its actually my third favorite Wii U game.
I usualy don't care much about delays, I can see why they can be necessary.
Sometimes I wish they would atleast delay games enough to not have gamebreaking bugs. (Looking at not getting past entering my name in Root letter)
Rather wait a little longer then get a crappy broken game with a massive 10+ GB patch.
@KirbyTheVampire Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, Japan Studio, Sucker Punch a few studio's Nintendo always gets hailed as the greatest. Lets be fair Sony has a lot of different games takes risks from Killzone to Horizon that can be said some more. And the games do not get pushed ahead to make christmas.
The only reason I’m alright with Ni No Kuni 2 being depayed again is because it means they’re taking their time and making the best game possible.
@get2sammyb " I genuinely believe virtually every developer cares about the games they're making, but sometimes the money's just not there.
I mean, take a game like Assassin's Creed Unity which probably should have been delayed, right? But do the maths: let's be conservative and say they had 250 people working on that (it would have been more). Now let's say they delay it three months, and the average salary for each employee is $1,500 per month.
Delays are very expensive." That makes a LOT of sense.
Waiting patiently for shenmue 3
Mass Effect Andromeda was delayed, and look how that turned out. I think it really depends on the Publisher/Developer. For me, personally, most developers and publishers have lost the benefit of the doubt.
Delays can be a bit of a bummer, but other than that, I don't really have a problem, personally.
I do think one issue with delaying a game, or even just allowing a game to be in the public realm for too long, can have either very positive or very negative effects on its reputation and people's excitement. Gang Beasts hasn't technically been delayed (as far as I know) but it was first shown several years ago, and only now are we beginning to hear talk about a final release. It's a great game, but it sort of feels like people are over it, and it isn't even out yet.
On the other side of the coin is No Man's Sky, which was in the public eye for a long time due to delays as well as that unfortunate flooding of their offices. However, it didn't seem to matter what was said about the game or what was happening with it, excitement and expectations just grew and grew, for better or worse.
Delays, inherently, are fine. They're good, even. I would hazard a guess that games never get worse because of a delay. They either stay pretty much the same or they get better.
If there's a problem with delays, and of course there is, it's the approach to announcing games that publishers take. Final Fantasy XV taking forty years to come to market isn't inherently bad, but when you announce it five minutes after you've started making it, it's kinda silly.
Basically, games should rarely be delayed because they shouldn't even be announced until they're nearly done.
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